Secret of the Leaf
by Advent of Shadows' Archive
Summary: What if Naruto's status as a jinchuriki had been kept secret? Here's my take. Pairings undecided. Abandoned.
1. Chapter 1

Before you read this, let me make one thing clear. This story is an abandoned story. This account is being used to archive my abandoned stories.

Furthermore, my active account is "Advent of Shadows."

**Chapter 1**

"Where are we going?" Naruto asked as he followed his teacher, Iruka Umino, away from the Academy.

It was the day of the Graduation Test, and the chunin had told the blond to follow him when his turn came. At first, Naruto had thought that he was being led to the testing room, but they had just left the Academy. It simply did not make any sense to him.

Iruka glanced back at Naruto and smiled. The young blond reminded him of himself when he was younger. Unlike Iruka, Naruto had never known his parents though. In fact, Naruto did not even know who his parents were. Supposedly, his mother was a member of the Uzumaki clan though.

"Lord Hokage asked me to take you to him when it came time to take your test. I will be returning to the Academy as soon as we get there so that I can finish the testing." Iruka said.

Inwardly, he sighed. It would have been better if he could have let his assistant give the tests while he was gone, but his last assistant was Mizuki Touji, who was in prison for murdering a comrade on a mission a few years earlier. His crimes had only recently been proven.

"But why can't I take the test so I can become an awesome shinobi?" Naruto said annoyed, causing his teacher to chuckle.

"You still can't make clones. Do you really want to take a test that you know you'll fail?" Iruka asked as he shook his head. "We already went through this. You have too much chakra to use the Clone Jutsu. If I had to guess, I'd say that Lord Hokage is going to give you an alternative test."

"Alter-what?" Naruto asked, dumbstruck.

"I said alternative. It means 'different' or 'another.'" Iruka explained with a frustrated sigh. He had explained what it meant to Naruto a few times since the boy joined his class, but everything went in one ear and out the other.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head and chuckled a little nervously. "I'll do awesome and make you proud, Iruka-sensei."

"I'm sure you will. I'm sure you will." Iruka said, the last being lower in tone and volume than the first. "Well, here we are."

As Iruka said that, they arrived at the Administration Building.

Looking up at the faded red building with the kanji for fire set at its highest level, Naruto smiled. He always liked visiting the building since that was where the Hokage's office was, despite the fact that he usually only went there when he was in trouble.

That, of course, meant that he had been there the day before because of his decision to paint Hokage Monument when he was supposed to be in class.

"Let's go." Iruka said as he walked through the doors of the building and headed to the Hokage's Office. By the quick sound of footsteps, he could tell that Naruto was following him.

As they walked, Iruka began to think about the thing that had been on his mind more and more recently. That thing was Naruto's peculiar situation. He had suspicions that the boy was more than he looked more and more each day. While he had the worst grades among the passing students in Iruka's class, the chunin did not think that it would be a stretch to say that Naruto possessed at least as much chakra as the entire class did together.

The worst part about the puzzle, Iruka thought, was that he could not figure out anything more about Naruto that would explain it. The boy did not understand it himself, and the Third Hokage had told him not to concern himself.

Reaching the Hokage's door, Iruka knocked on the door.

"Come in." Hiruzen Sarutobi said immediately after Iruka's fist left the door, prompting the chunin to open the door and allow Naruto to enter.

"Hey Old Man." Naruto said cheerfully.

"Hello to you too, Naruto." Sarutobi said before looking at Iruka. "You may return to the Academy now, Iruka. I can handle things here."

"As you command, Lord Hokage." Iruka said before he shut the door and left.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked over Naruto and motioned for him to have a seat directly across the desk from him. When Naruto did so, he said, "Naruto, Iruka sent your written test over earlier. The good news is that you passed, even if only barely."

"Awesome! I still don't see why we have to do written tests since we're ninja. When I'm Hokage, I'll change that. Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sarutobi shook his head with a sigh. Naruto reminded him of a young Kushina Uzumaki. That was for certain.

"You should probably listen so you don't miss me explain your alternative test. I'm not going to repeat the instructions, and you can't become Hokage unless you become a Leaf ninja." Sarutobi said slowly and carefully.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Naruto said.

"Very well then… all you have to do is learn a single clone jutsu." Sarutobi said, surprising Naruto.

For all his bluster, Naruto felt confused when the Hokage said that he had to learn a jutsu to pass his test. That made it sound as though he was not supposed to pass. Iruka had told him that few people could learn a jutsu in a single day after all.

"I will give you two scrolls. Each one holds a different clone jutsu. If you can learn one, then you will receive your forehead protector. If you can learn both, on other hand, then I will give you a third scroll containing a powerful ninjutsu technique." Sarutobi said as he withdrew two scrolls from his desk and placed them between Naruto and him. "You have twenty-four hours. I will find you at the end at that period of time, and you will show me what you've learned."

The Third Hokage knew that he had Naruto's attention and determination when he mentioned the promise of a powerful ninjutsu technique. It was only fair that he reward the blond for working hard though.

Taking both scrolls, Naruto grinned and said, "I'll show you that I can do them tomorrow."

And with that, Naruto left the room, running in excitement.

Sarutobi smiled as he watched Naruto running with a smile on his face. Seeing him happy always made the old Hokage feel pleased about the very decision that he still felt guilty over.

Looking at the picture of the Fourth Hokage on the wall, Sarutobi took a deep breath. He still could not help but believe that he had done the best that he could by hiding the truth about Naruto. It had been necessary, even if it forced him to ignore Minato Namikaze's last wish.

As a human being, he wished that he could have told the villagers the truth of what happened and that Naruto had saved them all.

As the Hokage, on other hand, he saw that he could not tell the villagers what happened. The Professor saw that it would have turned Naruto into a scapegoat for many. It would have also given the enemies of the village an easier chance to discover the existence of a jinchuriki in the Hidden Leaf Village and identify who the vessel was.

Regardless of how he felt towards his successor and predecessor, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been forced to act as a Hokage first and foremost. As a result, his actions had given Naruto a fairly normal childhood, though he had still been an orphan with no knowledge of his parents and few friends.

"It looks like I'll have to speak with Kakashi tomorrow after Naruto gets his headband." Sarutobi said thoughtfully. He was certain that Naruto would pass his test and get put on Kakashi's squad, which meant that Kakashi needed to learn a few truths. If Kakashi only discovered Naruto's jinchuriki status in the middle of a mission, then bad things were bound to happen after all.

"Come in." Sarutobi suddenly said as he looked at the half-shut door. He was a little surprised when it opened and he saw Ibiki Morino standing there.

"Sir, we have a situation." Ibiki said as he stepped through and shut the door. "Mizuki Touji has escaped."

"It looks like we better track him down then." Sarutobi said with a deep sigh. The last thing that they needed was a rogue ninja to deal with, even if it was only one of Mizuki's skills.

~Scene Break~

Twenty-four hours after being given his test, Naruto and the Third Hokage were at one of the many training grounds in the village. That particular training ground was designated Third Training Ground and it was composed of a clearing divided by a river with forest surrounding it. For some reason unknown to Naruto, there were three stumps in the center of the training grounds, and they were all about as tall as he was.

Walking to the river with the Third Hokage, Naruto took a deep breath and focused his chakra. Forming the tiger hand sign, he said, "Water Clone Jutsu" In an instant, four clones of Naruto emerged from the river before him and did front flips, landing at both sides of him.

Examining the clones, Sarutobi nodded in approval. They were not perfect, but they had high enough quality that, if they had been regular clones, Naruto would have passed the Graduation Exams with everyone else.

"Congratulations, you have done well. Would you like to try the other jutsu?" Sarutobi asked.

Before the words were even out of the Hokage's mouth, clones had already risen out of the ground.

"Mud Clone Jutsu" Naruto said as he looked at the four mud clones and the four water clones surrounding him.

'Impressive. He is sustaining eight clones at the same time, and they are all of acceptable quality.' Sarutobi thought.

"Release your clones." Sarutobi said as he withdrew a scroll and a blue banded forehead protector from his robes. "You've done something few genin can do. You've learned to sufficiently use two clone techniques in a single day."

The look in Naruto's eyes told the old man that he was very excited but did not know what to say, which seemed to be a first.

"Congratulations." Sarutobi said as he handed the scroll and the headband to Naruto, who immediately tied the latter around his forehead.

"How does it look?" Naruto asked.

"It looks very good, almost as if it were made for you." Sarutobi said with a sincere smile. "Now, I need to go back to my office. Also, you need to go and get your picture taken at the Academy for your file. You then need to bring it to the Administration Building so that you can actually be entered into the system as a genin. Once you get that taken care of, you are free until Monday. Make sure you are at the Academy at eight o'clock Monday morning for your Orientation."

Nodding, Naruto tucked the ninjutsu scroll into his jacket and began to run towards the Academy with a grin plastered to his face.

With that, Sarutobi formed a hand sign and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. He reappeared in his office almost instantaneously.

As soon as Sarutobi appeared, he sensed that he was not alone, which was confirmed when he saw Kakashi leaning up against the wall.

"You summoned me, Lord Hokage?" Kakashi said as he shut his book and placed it into his ninja pack.

"Yes, I did." Sarutobi said. He had done so four hours earlier, in order to make sure that Kakashi would be there sooner rather than later. "As you may know, you are getting Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki as prospective students soon. We need to talk about them."

"Both of them?" Kakashi asked, clearly confused. "I can understand Sasuke, but Naruto…?"

"Naruto is the main matter of this discussion. As I'm sure you have guessed, he is descended from the Uzumaki clan. To be more specific, his mother was a member of the clan." Sarutobi said. "There have only been two Uzumaki clan members to serve as members of our Shinobi Corps, Mito Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki, though the former was a member of the Senju clan through marriage."

"Are you implying that Naruto is the son of Kushina Uzumaki?" Kakashi asked, straightening up. He knew that if Kushina was the boy's mother, then his father would have to be his late sensei.

"Yes, and he shares her burden." Sarutobi said with a sad nod.

Kakashi had no idea how to respond to such a statement. The Hokage's words would not have meant much to the average person, but Kakashi was not average. Kakashi knew that Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze were legally married. He knew that Kushina was the second jinchuriki, or vessel, of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. He even knew that the fox had somehow broken free twelve years earlier and attacked the village until the Fourth Hokage had somehow defeated it with a powerful jutsu.

All of the sudden, everything clicked in Kakashi's head. Naruto Uzumaki was born the night of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's attack, and the only way to defeat a chakra monster without controlling it like the First Hokage or Madara Uchiha did was by sealing it.

'I think I understand now.' Kakashi thought as he glanced at the framed picture of Minato Namikaze on the wall. 'Sensei said that only a handful of people ever knew that Mito and Kushina were jinchuriki.'

"How many people know?" Kakashi suddenly asked.

"You are the fifth one that I've told. Outside of us, only the elders and Jiraiya are aware." Sarutobi said with a careful look in his eye. "He is not to be told until he becomes a chunin."

"What if his power emerges before then?" Kakashi asked.

"If there is absolutely no choice, then we will have to tell him. I just hope that it does not come to that." Sarutobi said with a sigh. "He deserves to have happy days before he realizes that he has such a heavy burden laid upon his shoulders."

Kakashi found that he could not disagree with the Hokage on that.

"Perhaps we should speak about Sasuke Uchiha now." Kakashi suggested, hoping to change the subject. It seemed that he had a great deal to think about. The fact that the Hidden Leaf Village still had a jinchuriki was quite a big announcement to the Copy Ninja. Of course, few people were even aware that there was ever a jinchuriki in the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Yes, let's do that." Sarutobi said.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Naruto Uzumaki gripped his right wrist with his left hand as he extended his arms into the air and stretched. Bringing them back down, he picked up his forehead protector from the dresser next to his bed and tied it on.

It was hard for him to believe that he was about to go to Genin Orientation. To make things even better, he almost had the jutsu that the Old Man gave him mastered. He would have already mastered it if it were not for the fact that he had been kept busy.

After he had turned in the picture for his file, he had met the Hokage's grandson, Konohamaru Sarutobi. He ended up spending the entire day running from the kid before finally teaching him a jutsu. Of course, that led to him getting in trouble for teaching the Hokage's grandson the infamous Sexy Jutsu. Still, the look on the Old Man's face was priceless.

Shaking his head away from such thoughts, Naruto put his jacket on, zipped it up, and then slipped his sandals off. Finally in his bright orange attire, he was ready to leave the house. He had woken up later than he planned, so he did not even have time to eat breakfast.

He had no idea that he was actually having a lucky day though. By skipping breakfast, he skipped the sour milk in his fridge, which would have definitely made him have a few problems.

With everything in order, Naruto opened his window and jumped out of it, landing in the middle of the street.

Turning towards the direction of the Academy, Naruto began to run as fast as he could to ensure that he would not be late. He wished that he knew some kind of teleportation jutsu so that he could get there in the blink of an eye, but jutsu of that nature were supposedly well guarded and incredibly difficult to learn, according to the Hokage.

Reaching the Academy with a minute to spare, Naruto raced down the halls and opened the door to the classroom, drawing all eyes in the room to me.

"Cutting it close, aren't we?" Iruka asked with a raised eye brow. The chunin decided not to admonish Naruto any further though. In a mission, it was better to be on time than it was to be early, and it was usually better to be early than it was to be late.

"Sorry." Naruto said, taking the only available seat, which was next to Shikamaru Nara. Ideally, he would have sat by his crush, Sakura Haruno. Unfortunately, Sakura and her supposed best friend, Ino Yamanaka, were sitting on each side of Sasuke Uchiha, making that table full.

"I know it's troublesome, but what happened to you? You didn't take the last exam with us." Shikamaru lazily said.

"I can't use the Clone Jutsu because I have too much chakra, so I had to take another test." Naruto explained. While he was not all that happy with admitting his inability to do anything, it was certainly easier to do so to one of his few friends.

"Quiet back there!" Iruka shouted as he looked at Naruto and Shikamaru.

The room instantly quieted at that moment, but only for a moment. The sound of a potato chip snapping in half suddenly broke the tension, causing everyone to look at Choji.

"What?" Choji asked, looking around in confusion.

Naruto could not help but bust up laughing at that moment, and he was soon followed by Kiba Inuzuka.

Iruka shook his head and cleared his throat. He knew that the boys would get what was coming to them. Karma was a bitch, and her name was D-rank missions.

"Sorry." Naruto said with a grin that showed he was not.

"It's time to start your orientation now…." Iruka began.

~Scene Break~

On top of a building across the street from the Academy, Kakashi Hatake was standing with two other jonin, Kurenai Yuhi and Asuma Sarutobi.

"Are you okay? You look a bit nervous." Kurenai asked as she looked at Kakashi. It confused her since he was a more experienced ninja than her and he had been given students before, though he had always failed them. She, on the other hand, was a new jonin and had never been offered genin students before.

Asuma looked at his old friend and felt that he had to agree with Kurenai. Something did appear to be troubling him, though he could not even guess what it was. Kakashi rarely showed reactions like that.

"I'll be okay." Kakashi said, annoyed with himself for revealing his anxiety. "It's just that I heard some bad news. The next Make-Out book has just been postponed. How will I ever make it?" As he said it, Kakashi placed his right hand over his eyes and appeared depressed.

While the lines did not seem all that great, Kakashi demonstrated how easily ninja could double as actors by making his closest friend believe him. Fortunately, neither of the present ninja were fans of those books, so they had no way of telling that he was lying.

"So what do you have planned for the tests that you're giving your students?" Kurenai asked, looking at Asuma.

"I'll probably just give 'em a simple teamwork test. What about you?" Asuma answered.

"I think I'm going to do the same, but I'm going to make it more of a tracking test than a combat one." Kurenai answered. "What about you, Kakashi?"

"Oh, I'll just give them the Bell Test." he said with a shrug.

"You really don't want students, do you?" Asuma asked.

"Actually, I do." Kakashi said, surprising his friend. "But, I'm not going to pass anyone that can't measure up. We are known for the best ninja around. I'm just maintaining quality."

Kakashi felt that his explanation was a bit of an oversimplification, but it was much better to oversimplify than it was to spend the time to explain it as he saw it.

"What's the Bell Test?" Kurenai asked, confused.

"Well, you see…." Asuma began.

~Scene Break~

"Squad Seven will be composed of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki." Iruka said, surprising quite a few people in class.

Sakura could not help but be happy to be in the same squad as Sasuke, even if it did mean that she had to put up with Naruto. At the same time, Ino was angry for not getting put in the same squad as Sasuke while Sakura did.

Naruto was not sure what to think with the arrangement at all. While he did like Sakura a great deal, he would have gladly switched squads if it meant that he did not have to work with Sasuke. Plus, he could tell that he would not stand much of a chance getting Sakura's attention while being on the same squad as the Uchiha.

Sasuke was the only one of them that felt indifferent towards the squad arrangement. He felt that anyone that was put with him would slow him down after all.

Needless to say, the fan girls in class were disappointed at not being in Sasuke's squad as well.

"Why do I have to be in a squad with a lame-o like Sasuke?" Naruto asked loudly, earning many a glare.

"Naruto, it is tradition to pair the best student with the worst. Sasuke was the best." Iruka said with a deep sigh.

"So Sakura had the worst?" Naruto asked, cluelessly. That question, of course, earned him a glare from his crush.

"No numb skull, you had the worst." Iruka said, causing half of the class to laugh at the blond. Clearing his throat again, he said, "Squad Eight will consist of Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame."

None of the three graduates had any problem with that squad arrangement. They all at least knew each other as a result of their clans' relationships.

"Finally, Squad Ten will consist of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi."

A loud thump sounded throughout the room as Ino slammed her head into her desk.

"Iruka-sensei, I think she's dead." Naruto said as he pointed to her.

"Shut up!" Ino said as he sat back up and glared at Naruto, who just shrugged.

"What a drag…." Shikamaru said with a sigh as he looked at his best friend. "She's going to make us work. She has that evil look in her eyes."

"Shika, don't all girls have that?" Choji asked as he nodded in agreement with the shadow user.

"Yeah, I noticed that too." Shikamaru agreed.

"Guys, I'm not going to take one for you." Naruto said as he saw all of the girls giving evil looks to the lazy Nara and the fat Akimichi, though Shikamaru was certainly receiving the main focus of it.

"It's time for lunch. Be back in an hour so that you can meet up with your sensei." Iruka said. The only ones that did not get up immediately were Shikamaru and Choji.

"Are you staying here?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"If we leave now, then the girls may get us." Shikamaru said with a shrug. "We'll wait it out. Choji always has food on him."

"Whatever you say." Naruto said as he left the classroom.

As soon as he got out of the classroom, Naruto saw Sakura walking next to Sasuke, talking. He would have bet anything that the Uchiha was about to shoot her down. His suspicions were confirmed when she suddenly stopped and sulked away.

"Hey Naruto, do you have time to talk about your test?" Iruka asked as he walked up behind the blond. "I never did find out what you had to do to pass."

"Sure thing, Iruka-sensei." Naruto said as he decided to go with Iruka instead of try to convince Sakura to have lunch with him. He was sure that he would have failed in that particular venture anyways. It had never worked before after all.

So with that, Naruto walked with Iruka and told him all about his learning the Water Clone Jutsu, the Mud Clone Jutsu, and the jutsu that the Third Hokage had given him as a reward for learning two ninjutsu techniques in a single day.

~Scene Break~

Three hours later, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were sitting on the room of the Academy across from Kakashi Hatake, their late sensei. Well, he was their late sensei in the fact that he was their sensei and he was late, at least. They no doubt wanted to make him their late sensei in another manner after making them wait in the classroom so long though.

"Well, now that we are all settled, let's start with your introductions." Kakashi said as he looked the three genin hopefuls over.

"But sensei, you should go first to show us what we should do. What are we even supposed to say? It's not fair to…." Sakura began.

"Oh, sure. My name is Kakashi Hatake and I'm your jonin sensei. Let's see…" Kakashi scratched his head in mock thought while they waited. "I do have some things I like...and some things I don't like… neither of which are relevant. Oh… and neither are any of my goals. There you go." As he finished, he pointed at Naruto, receiving raised eye brows from Sakura.

'We didn't learn anything about him other than his name.' Naruto and Sakura thought.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, especially ramen from Ichiraku's. They make the best. I hate vegetables. My hobbies are pulling pranks and training. And my dream is to become the greatest Hokage of all. Believe it!" Naruto proudly declared.

"Alright Naruto, that wasn't too bad. Now then… it's your turn, pinky." Kakashi said as he pointed at the pink haired kunoichi.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like…" Sakura glanced at Sasuke and blushed again with a dreamy smile. "My dream is...well I mean what I want to do…" Sakura looked at Sasuke again and blushed before looking back at her sensei. "And my dislikes are Naruto and other girls who get in my way."

Kakashi sighed inwardly. He did not like how she added Naruto into her dislikes, especially given how he actually looked hurt when she said it. In addition to that, it sounded like this girl didn't have much ambition past getting married to the Uchiha. That would be a problem if she wanted to be a ninja, especially if she wanted to be a ninja on _his_ squad. It looked like she had plenty of intelligence, but her physical activity was low enough where she wouldn't last in a fight for long. He could already tell that their first real mission could be very disastrous.

"Okay…well Sakura that was very…enlightening." Sakura smiled and bowed as if the compliment wasn't sarcastic. Kakashi looked over at the solemn Uchiha and inclined his head. "It's your turn now."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone." Sasuke said in his typical brooding pose.

'He looks so dreamy….' Sakura thought as she looked at him.

'I hope it's not me.' Naruto thought nervously.

'Oh yeah, I definitely have to thank the Hokage later for this team. Unless I fail them, of course.' Kakashi thought.

"He he...I'm sure we will get along just fine." Kakashi said. "We'll have our first mission tomorrow, so be ready when you get up in the morning." The three were a bit surprised; they didn't expect their first mission already.

"I hope it's more entertaining than this meeting was." Sasuke said as he looked at Kakashi unimpressed.

"Oh, I'm sure it will be. It's a survival exercise, one in which we will all participate in together."

"I was under the impression that we were done with exercises. Aren't we supposed to have a real mission by now?" Sasuke asked, challengingly.

"I agree Kakashi-sensei. I mean… we already learned all that in the academy right? Shouldn't we be moving onto a real mission to get experience...?" She lost her train of thought as the teacher looked at her, quieting her protest.

"This isn't like your other training, it's...different." Kakashi answered her while shrugging, enjoying how his nonchalant attitude frustrated the girl.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, frustrated.

"You see, out of the twenty seven graduates, only nine will actually become genin. The others are sent back to the academy in similar tests to this one, to see who really has what it takes to go on missions for the village." That was a bombshell for the genin, realizing that they might have to go back to the academy if they failed.

Sasuke was not too worried. He was overconfident in his abilities.

'As long as they stay out of my way during this test, then we won't have any problems.' the Uchiha thought.

"Well then, if there aren't any questions we're done here. Be at the Third Training Ground tomorrow morning at six in the morning. Don't be late, be sure to bring all your ninja gear, and..." Kakashi let his voice take a more serious tone to spook them a bit. "don't eat breakfast, or else you'll throw it up."

Naruto and Sakura shivered at the jonin's tone, while Sasuke just looked back defiantly.

"Alright then, see ya." Kakashi said before he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the three genin to go about the rest of the day on their own.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had been at the Third Training Ground for about three hours before Kakashi arrived. Seeing him walk up to the three genin nonchalantly definitely pissed off Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke was certainly annoyed as well.

"Well, glad to see you all prepared for this exercise. Now then shall we jump straight into the exercise? Oh yeah… sorry about being late, but I got lost on the path of life. You know how it is…" Kakashi said.

Naruto and Sakura both barely managed to restrain themselves from yelling at their sensei at that point, but they managed… somehow.

Kakashi walked over to one of the three stumps that Naruto had noticed when the Third Hokage had taken him to the training ground a few days earlier. He placed a clock from his bag on top of it.

'He was late… but he had a clock with him?' Sakura thought, feeling thoroughly confused.

Kakashi hit the top to start the clock and pointed at the clock hands as they began to move as to explain the reasoning. "The clock is set for noon. You have until then to get one of these bells from me." Kakashi reached into his pocket to reveal two bells tied to red string which he then tied to his waist. "Whoever gets a bell will pass and those who don't will fail and be sent back to the Academy. Do you have any questions?" He asked the last part with a mocking smile as the three thought over what he said.

"But sensei… there are only two bells." Sakura thought it over and realized that it was setup for a free-for-all, they couldn't all pass.

Sasuke eyed the two bells with suspicion; he would get one for sure. 'I'm guaranteed to pass this. Too bad for Sakura. Oh well… at least I'll get away from her by making her fail.'

"That's right Sakura. Only two of you will become full-fledged genin, the other will be sent back to Academy. In addition to that, the one that fails will be tied to one of these stumps while the others eat lunch."

They all knew why they were told not to eat anything at that point.

Sakura looked very nervous at that statement. She looked at Sasuke first. 'I know his abilities from the academy. He's top notch in all aspects. He had high marks in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and even genjutsu…not to mention ninja tools…'

Then she looked at Naruto. 'He had the worst grades of anyone in our class in the Academy, but he's pretty good at taijutsu. Who knows what else he's good at… he even had to take a different test than us because he had too much chakra to use Academy level jutsu. I don't even know how that's possible….'

She looked back and forth before sighing and looked at the ground in defeat. She knew that she had the worst grades in the practical aspects of being a shinobi among them.

Kakashi saw the silent exchange and realized she doubted herself. It was a lethal thing for a shinobi, but it was something she would have to work past herself.

"You may use any weapon against me, including shuriken and kunai. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, then you won't get a bell." Kakashi said firmly.

Sakura was surprised. She could not figure out how he could think that they would have any chance or inclination to want to kill him over a bell.

"But sensei, those weapons are dangerous! Someone could seriously get hurt." Sakura objected.

Kakashi looked at her and gave her a smile. "I'm a jonin. Trust me; I can handle anything you can throw at me."

"You can start when I say start; understand?" He laid it out clear and simple for them by speaking slowly acting as if they were children.

Kakashi looked between all three of them and then shrugged.

"Start" Sasuke and Sakura immediately leaped away from him and found hiding spots in the trees or bushes, turning their eyes back to see Naruto remaining in the same spot.

"Are you a little slow or something?" Kakashi asked, looking at Naruto a bit carefully.

"Why would I hide? I can't get a bell if I'm in the forest like they are? And I kind of need one so I can become Hokage. Believe it!" Naruto said as he entered a basic taijutsu stance.

Kakashi wanted to laugh at the simplistic approach that Naruto was taking, but he had to say that he agree with Naruto's decision to actively try to get the bells instead of hiding. Of course, Naruto would fail his test if he did not work with Sasuke and Sakura, so it really did not matter what he did.

"Good luck with that." Kakashi said as he pulled his book out from his ninja pack and began reading.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" Naruto asked, getting angry at the jonin.

"This is called a book. People read these things." Kakashi stated. "I'm getting to the good part, so I'm just going to read it. It's not like you'll be able to stand a chance even with me distracted anyways."

Naruto immediately threw a kunai at Kakashi and sped towards him as fast as he could. He thought that he could succeed with Kakashi distracted and maybe even teach him a lesson, but that seemed a long shot when the jonin leaned his head to the right, allowing him to dodge the kunai without even moving his hands or feet.

Feeling even angrier, Naruto ran at Kakashi and threw a punch, which the Copy Ninja easily caught with his free hand. Not giving up, Naruto threw a kick at Kakashi's back with his left foot, which the jonin blocked with his right elbow. Kakashi then threw Naruto like a rag doll off to the side with the hand that held the blond's fist.

As the blond hit the ground, he rolled at least ten yards, only coming to a stop when he hit a tree.

"Is that the best you've got?" Kakashi asked in a bored tone. "I was hoping the 'future Hokage' would at least be mediocre. Oh well, you were only dead-last anyways."

"You're going to regret saying that." Naruto said as he quickly surveyed his surroundings. He quickly saw exactly how he would prove that he was the best in his class, but he knew that forcing Kakashi into the necessary position would be too difficult at that moment.

Quickly throwing a smoke bomb down, Naruto decided to take cover and attack when the moment was right.

"So, he flees. Yes, I will definitely regret slandering him now." Kakashi said with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. Glancing over his shoulder, he hopped to his left, causing a barrage of shuriken and kunai to barely miss him.

"That was a brilliant effort." Kakashi complimented as he looked at Sakura in her hiding spot. In an instant, he disappeared without any trace of where he went to.

Reappearing behind Sakura, he shut the book, placed it back in his pack, and formed the hand signs for the Demonic Illusion: Death Mirage Jutsu. It was only a D-rank genjutsu technique that began with a swirl of leaves and ended with a nightmarish vision. It should have been fairly easy to dispel, especially since Sakura was a genjutsu type kunoichi according to her file.

'She fainted?' Kakashi thought in surprise as he looked at the unconscious kunoichi. Shaking his head, he went back to the clearing. He expected that either Naruto or Sasuke would strike soon enough.

His expectations were proven true when a large fireball suddenly came towards him. He instantly realized that it had to be Sasuke, though he had not really expected the Uchiha to know that particular jutsu already.

The fireball seemingly engulfed Kakashi, much to Sasuke's satisfaction. When the fire went away, there was no body though, making Sasuke quickly look around for where the elite jonin went to.

"Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu"

As Sasuke heard the name of the jutsu, he felt something grab onto his ankles and pull him underground. Kakashi then emerged from the ground a few feet away.

"Nice effort, but you're not all that good." Kakashi said as he walked away from the boy that was buried to his neck.

As Kakashi approached the river that ran through the training ground, he was forced to hop forward, dodging a barrage of kunai. Looking around, he saw ninja wire leading from one of the trees to the river.

'He must have set a trap for me. At least I know where he is now.' Kakashi said as he looked at the river. As he looked at the river, he saw Naruto emerge from it and throw a handful of shuriken at him.

Focusing on deflecting the shuriken, Kakashi almost did not notice Naruto's real attack. It was kind of hard not to notice forty clones emerging from the river jumping towards him though.

'Okay… those aren't illusions.' Kakashi thought as he quickly did a back flip. As the clones landed in from of him, he delivered a roundhouse kick that took out a fourth of the clones. Much to Kakashi's surprise, the clones turned into water when they were hit.

'Damn… how did he learn the Water Clone Jutsu?' Kakashi wondered as he quickly went to work on the remaining clones. As soon as he destroyed the last of the water clones, he heard a sound that he really did not want to. It was the sound of earth shifting.

Looking over his shoulder, Kakashi saw twenty mud clones of Naruto. He could tell that they were mud clones because they were not very high quality at all. They were good enough to cause a problem for most genin and chunin though.

While Kakashi did not really like to have to resort to ninjutsu during the Bell Test, he decided to make an exception just for Naruto.

"Water Style: Raging Waves" Kakashi said as he flew through the hand signs and shot water out of his mouth, through his mask, at the mud clones. The water was strong enough to completely turn the clones into a mud pit.

'Okay, he's definitely genin material.' Kakashi thought. The boy's strategy was incredible for a graduate just out of the Academy. With some experience and an arsenal of offensive ninjutsu, Kakashi could easily see Naruto reaching the rank of chunin within a year. At that point, he doubted that Naruto could even defeat a chunin that did not see field action, like Iruka, though.

"Demon Windmill Shuriken" Naruto exclaimed as he jumped out of the river and threw a fuma shuriken at Kakashi with all of his might.

Glancing over his shoulder, Kakashi could not help but feel surprised. He carefully dodged the attack while waiting for the blond's real attack.

'I can't figure out if he's a moron or a genius.' Kakashi idly thought. It seemed that Naruto was capable of actions that showed intelligence and actions that showed idiocy.

Kakashi's eye widened as he saw the Naruto that jumped out of the river suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

'Shadow Clone Jutsu' Kakashi thought in shock. It seemed that Naruto was trying to become a clone specialist or something.

Quickly spinning to his right, Kakashi narrowly avoided Naruto, who had lunged for the bells from behind the Copy Ninja.

"You transformed into the shuriken?" Kakashi asked, mildly impressed. He had to admit that Naruto's attempt to get the bells was the most successful among them.

"It's a shame you didn't get one. I would have liked to have you as a student." Kakashi said. As soon as he finished speaking, the alarm went off, signaling noon.

Glancing around, Kakashi saw Sakura and Sasuke making their way over to them.

A few minutes later, Naruto found himself tied to the stump while Sakura and Sasuke had their bentos in front of them.

"Why did you tie me up?" Naruto asked, still confused.

"You did better than they did, but you did too many thing wrong at the same time. Those two are your teammates. You should have woken Sakura up from her genjutsu induced sleep and helped Sasuke out of his hole. Then, you could have tried to work together to get the bells." Kakashi said with a heavy sigh.

"Work together?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Why do you think you were put in squads of three?" Kakashi asked seriously.

"So that we would work together…." Sakura said as she put two and two together. "But you made it so that only two of us could pass. That would cause problems for the squad as a whole."

"That was the plan. You were supposed to work towards the success of the mission regardless of personal consequences. That is what shinobi do." Kakashi said.

"But we didn't know…." Sakura said sadly.

"You know what… I'll give you one more chance after lunch. You and Sasuke can eat, but don't feed Naruto or you fail. I'll be back when it's time to start again." Kakashi said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Believe it!" Naruto declared, though he felt like a fool when his stomach growled loudly.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto and held out his bento in front of the blond, surprising Naruto and Sakura.

"Hurry up before he comes back." Sasuke said.

"What are you doing? Kakashi-sensei said…." Sakura began.

"He said that we're supposed to work as a team. We need every member of the team, especially Naruto. You saw how well he did against Kakashi. If we're going to get those bells, we'll need to have him at his best. Having him hungry won't help anyone." Sasuke said.

Sakura nodded her head in understanding and held hers out in front of Naruto as well. She had to agree with Sasuke on that, and not just because she thought he was perfect.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" Kakashi asked as he reappeared suddenly. The clouds above darkened and thunder rumbled with his sudden appearance. "I thought I specifically told you that you would fail if you fed Naruto."

"But sensei… you said…" Sakura began nervously.

"You said we're supposed to work as a team." Naruto continued.

"And we're all part of the team. We all did to be at our best, or we'll fail." Sasuke said, though he hated admitting that he would fail under any circumstances.

"Oh, is that so?" Kakashi asked the genin in an incredibly serious voice that boomed like thunder.

All three genin nodded their head.

"Very well then. You… pass. Congratulations." Kakashi said as he gave them a thumbs-up and the clouds lightened back to their normal color. "Starting tomorrow, you'll be in Squad Seven under me doing missions and training."

All three genin looked completely and utterly shocked at the Copy Ninja's announcement.

'It looks like I finally get a squad that managed to pass.' Kakashi thought with a small smile.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

When Naruto imagined being a genin, he pictured himself saving princesses, protecting feudal lords, and learning awesome ninja techniques.

In the two weeks that he had been a genin, his perceptions on it had been shattered.

They had done D-rank missions every other day with teamwork training on the days in between. D-rank missions were… horrible. He could not think of a better word to use to describe them. Walking dogs, picking up trash, pulling weeds, and catching cats did not even deserve the term mission applied to them in his opinion.

It would have been one thing if they had at least learned something… anything… in Kakashi's training. He had insisted that they focus on developing their teamwork though.

It did not help that every time that they finished their teamwork training for the day, Naruto asked Kakashi for individual training and received less than what he wanted. Kakashi only helped him get better at what he already knew how to do, like creating mud clones and using taijutsu.

The only measure of relief that Naruto found was that Kakashi was not granting Sasuke or Sakura any training outside of what he granted the blond. He knew that Sasuke was at least as frustrated as he was.

"We have a few missions left that you can choose from." the Third Hokage said as he looked through the scroll of D-rank missions. "You can catch Tora again, walk the dogs for the Inuzuka clan, or baby sit for the Kodachi family."

"Hmm… how about…?" Kakashi began, but he was stopped by Naruto's words.

"I've had it! Give us a real mission! We can't prove ourselves by doing a bunch of chores." Naruto declared with crossed arms.

Kakashi looked at the Hokage nervously and glanced back at Naruto. He had been expecting that to happen fairly soon, but he had hoped that it would not happen quite yet.

"He has a point." Sasuke said, catching their attention. "We're better than this."

"Guys, it's customary to do D-rank missions and teamwork building exercises for the first month or two that you're genin. You're still just out of the Academy." Kakashi said, trying to get the genin to back down.

"Actually, I think they might have a point." Sarutobi said, causing everyone to look at him in surprise. "If they want a C-rank mission, then we can give them one. But, if they fail the mission, then they will be ineligible to receive anything above D-rank for a period of four months."

Kakashi saw what the Hokage was getting at. If the genin had what it took, then there would be no problems. If they were demanding something not within their capabilities, on the other hand, then they would have to go a very long time without anything but chores to occupy them.

"Very well then, I think we should hear about this mission." Kakashi said looking at his students. He could tell that they were all excited about the prospect of a C-rank mission.

"Send the client in." Sarutobi said loudly, receiving a nod from a chunin near the door. The chunin then proceeded to open the door and leave the room.

About a minute later, the chunin returned with an older man that had a bottle of sake in his hand.

The older man looked at the ninja standing in the middle of the room and took a swig from his bottle. "Where are my body guards? All I see are a bunch of snot-nosed brats and a single ninja." he asked, looking past Squad Seven at the Hokage.

"Shut the hell up, you bastard!" Naruto yelled as he tried to step forward and take a swing at the man, but Kakashi placed his hand atop the blond's head and stopped him from moving.

"This is the squad that will escort you." the Hokage said, glancing at Kakashi.

"They might not look it, but these three are full-fledged shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. And if worst comes to worst, you have me. I'm a jonin." Kakashi said, trying to placate both his team and the client.

"Well I'm Tazuna, the famous bridge builder from the Land of Waves, and you're going to escort me back home, even if it costs you your lives." the man said with a snort. He obviously did not think the genin could survive such a mission.

"I want you guys to go home and get your stuff prepared right now. I'll meet you at the gates in an hour." Kakashi said as he looked at his students. He knew that letting them be around Tazuna too long at that moment would have been a bad idea. It seemed that he was determined to piss them off.

"Yeah, whatever you say." Naruto said as he left the room with Sakura and Sasuke making their way behind him.

"I'd like to get the specifics on this mission, if you don't mind." Kakashi said to Tazuna, trying to be as polite as he could. He did not like the man because of how he spoke about his students, but Kakashi did not want his squad to fail the mission because they were unprepared either.

"Yeah, sure… whatever you say." Tazuna said as he walked along with Kakashi giving the basics of needing protection against bandits and their ilk.

~Scene Break~

"So… you said you're from the Land of Waves?" Sakura asked about two hours later as Squad Seven walked to the east with Tazuna.

"Yeah, I did. What of it?" Tazuna asked gruffly before taking a drink from his bottle.

"Don't you have your own ninja?" Sakura asked.

"No, they don't." Kakashi said, immediately seeing that Tazuna was not going to answer her. It was no surprise to the Copy Ninja that the bridge builder had that reaction though. He was likely a citizen of the Land of Whirlpools before it became the Land of Waves. "The Land of Waves is too small a nation to support a shinobi village."

Both Tazuna and Kakashi knew better than to actually think that, despite the fact that the latter said it. The Land of Whirlpools had been in possession of a ninja village after all, and the Land of Water was not much bigger either.

"You see, in most other countries, they have hidden villages, though the customs of them vary.

"To the many countries of the continent, the existence of a shinobi village means military power. This is how they hold and maintain advantages over each other. But, it's not that the villages rule the countries. They merely stand equal with the country's government.

"A small island country like the Land of Waves does not receive much interference from the larger countries, so it might not actually need a ninja village.

"Among the many shinobi villages, the most powerful are Leaf, Sand, Mist, Cloud, and Rock. They are referred to as the Five Great Ninja Villages, and they are the only villages whose leader receives the title of 'Kage.'

"The Five Kages, or Gokage, are the Hokage, Kazekage, Mizukage, Raikage, and Tsuchikage. They reign over thousands of shinobi each." Kakashi said, finishing up his explanation.

'Is the Old Man really that good?' Naruto thought.

"You guys just doubted Lord Hokage, didn't you?" Kakashi suddenly asked as he turned and looked at his students. He could tell that they had by the guilty looks on their faces.

"But don't worry. There won't be any ninja combat in a C-rank mission." Kakashi said, reassuring them.

"Then we won't come in contact with foreign shinobi?" Sakura asked.

"Of course not… don't be silly." Kakashi said with a smile.

Tazuna appeared to feel a very heavy burden as he heard the conversation, though only Kakashi was able to see as much. Naruto and Sasuke were too busy feeling disappointed at the prospect of no conflict with enemy shinobi to test their limits against.

Turning his eye away from Tazuna, Kakashi noticed a curiosity on the side of the road: a puddle.

He looked forward and continued walking ahead with his students while keeping his attention on his surroundings.

In a flash, two men bearing forehead protectors of the Hidden Mist Village rose from the puddle and began their attack. They had gauntlets with a chain that ran between them for teamwork attacks, which they demonstrated as one of them jumped in front of Kakashi and wrapped him up with it. Then, shurikens were sent down the chain, tearing him to pieces.

"One down." the first one said.

"Three to go." the other said.

They disconnected the chain from their gauntlets at that moment and sped towards different targets. One went after Sakura and Tazuna while the other went after Naruto and Sasuke.

The one that went after Naruto aimed a direct strike of his poisoned gauntlet at the boy's chest. Much to his surprise, Naruto did not even move, though the fear on his face vanished moments before his attack struck.

"What in the-?" the Mist ninja said as his clawed gauntlet went through the boy and he gripped his shoulders.

"Do it now, Sasuke!" the Naruto that was holding the ninja said.

Managing to look over at the other male genin, the Mist ninja saw a fireball flying towards him. In the last second before it hit him, he understood that he had fallen into a trap. The reason his arm went through the boy was because it was a mud clone.

The real Naruto landed in front of Sakura with a kunai in each hand. Holding them back handed, he prepared for the ninja's attack, but it never came.

Kakashi had the Mist ninja in a headlock, looking at Naruto with a smile.

"Sensei, you're alive!" Sakura exclaimed, happy to see Kakashi again. Her teammates felt the same way, though they did not make the same exclamations.

"Yep; I am a jonin after all." Kakashi asked as he applied pressure to the foreign ninja's throat, making him pass out. "So Naruto, when did you plan that out?"

"I had no idea what to do at first. Then, I remembered that I could substitute myself with a clone." Naruto said. "I think Sasuke could tell that it wasn't me though."

"Yeah, I could." Sasuke said as he walked up to them, glancing at the wooden splinters from the log that signaled a substitution jutsu by Kakashi. "Your mud clones still have brown feet."

Kakashi felt proud of his students at hearing that. Naruto froze up at first, but he trapped the enemy ninja at the last second nonetheless. Sasuke had used the opening his teammate gave him and finished off that enemy without hesitation. Even Sakura had done something useful, though it had only been to protect their client. That, in itself, was a very important thing though.

Dropping the unconscious foreign ninja, Kakashi looked at Tazuna. "It seems that we have to talk. They're chunin class ninja from the Hidden Mist Village. They're known for the persistence to keep fighting regardless of concern for their lives, and I'm quite familiar with their strategies."

"Sensei, how did you know they were here?" Sakura suddenly asked.

"On a sunny day like this when it hasn't rained in days, a water puddle shouldn't exist." Kakashi explained.

"Why did you leave the fighting to your students if you knew they were here?" Tazuna asked.

"I stayed out of the first part of the fight so that I could see who their target was. After they thought they took me down, they went after two specific targets, Naruto and you. I could tell that they were just trying to prevent Naruto and Sasuke from getting to you though." Kakashi answered.

The three genin looked at Tazuna at that point.

"You conveniently forgot to inform us that there were shinobi after you. Our mission was to simply protect you from thieves or bandits. If it was known that ninja were after you, this mission would have been a more expensive B-rank mission." Kakashi said. "I'm sure you have a reason, but it causes problems when you lie about the mission details. We are now operating outside of our duties."

"Sensei, we aren't ready for a mission like this. Let's quit." Sakura said.

"This might be too much." Kakashi agreed.

"No!" Naruto said as he looked at Kakashi with determination blazing in his eyes. "We can do this. We can protect the old man. We can continue the mission. I know we can. Believe it!"

"I don't know…." Kakashi said, trailing off.

"You're right. This job is most likely outside of your duties. It turns out that a dangerous man is after my life." Tazuna said with a heavy sigh.

"Who?" Kakashi asked, curiosity setting in.

"You've probably heard his name before." Tazuna said. "He's a wealthy shipping magnate by the name of Gato."

"Gato… do you mean Gato from the Gato Company? He's said to be among the world's most wealthy people." Kakashi asked.

"Yes… officially, he runs a large shipping company, but secretly, he sells drugs and other illegal items. He uses ninja and gang members to take over businesses and countries. He's a very bad man." Tazuna explained. "It was about a year ago when he set his eyes on the Land of Waves. Through money and violence, he quickly took countrol of the country's shipping industry. Now, he has a monopoly on all business traffic in the country. The only thing he has to fear is the completion of the bridge."

"I see… you're in the way since you're building the bridge." Sakura said thoughtfully.

"So those ninja were hired by Gato?" Sasuke asked, receiving a nod from Tazuna.

"But what I don't understand is… if you knew ninja could be after you, then why did you hide that fact when you hired us?" Kakashi asked.

"Well you see… the Land of Waves is very poor. Even our Feudal Lord does not have very much money. We couldn't afford an expensive B-rank mission. If you quit now, I'll definitely be killed." Tazuna let out a fake laugh at that. "Don't worry about it though. If I die, my cute grandson will just cry for a few days, and my daughter will live a sad like hating Leaf ninja forever. But it won't be your fault. Not at all!"

Kakashi sighed at that. He knew he did not have a choice. "Fine… we'll protect you until you get back home at least."

Tazuna knew that he had won as soon as Kakashi said that.

'The next ninja we face will be jonin level, not chunin like these. This is definitely going to be dangerous.' Kakashi thought as he began walking once again. He just hoped that they did not face anything that was out of his ability to handle.

The only bright side was that it was a short journey to the Land of Waves. They only needed to travel for about another hour before they reached the dock where they would get a boat to travel to the island nation.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Kakashi had begun to think that everything was going to be fine when they reached the dock and got to the Land of Waves by boat without any more trouble. He knew that he had been wrong, though, just as Sakura hit Naruto over the head with her fist for acting cool.

It was not the act of her hitting him that made him realize that he was wrong, though. It was the action before that that showed him. Naruto had suddenly thrown a shuriken into a bush, and it had hit right above a rabbit's head.

Kakashi did not understand how the blond sensed it, but he did. The Copy Ninja was certain that it was not blind luck.

The rabbit that was nearly hit was a snow rabbit, a unique rabbit that had its fur change based upon the amount of light it received.

Spring had just come, which meant that the amount of sunlight should have turned the rabbit's fur light brown at the very least. It was not an albino after all, so having white fur still was a sign that it had been kept in captivity inside.

He was certain that it was used for a substitution jutsu, meaning that Naruto had thrown the shuriken at the enemy without realizing it.

"Everyone get down!" Kakashi suddenly shouted as he got down on the ground. Naruto and Sasuke did the same, while Sakura grabbed Tazuna as she went down.

A massive sword spun through the air where they had been standing and slammed into a tree up ahead of them. In an instant, a man appeared, standing on the hilt of the sword.

Shirtless with striped pants, camouflage cloth over his lower legs and arms, and a Mist forehead protector turned to the side of his head, the muscular man looked imposing. Bandages were wrapped around the lower half of his face, making him look even more dangerous.

"Well, well, well… if it isn't Zabuza Momochi, a rogue ninja of the Hidden Mist." Kakashi said as he looked at the man carefully. "Everyone stay back. This guy is on a whole other level from the last two."

"Even I will have difficulty, unless I do this." As Kakashi said that, he raised his slanted forehead protector, revealing his left eye.

"So, Kakashi of the Sharingan lives up to his moniker." Zabuza said as he saw Kakashi's red left eye with three tomoe set in orbit around the pupil.

'What in the hell is Sharingan?' Naruto thought confused.

'How… how could he have it?' Sasuke thought in shock.

"Surround and protect Zabuza. Do not enter the fight. That is the teamwork here." Kakashi ordered. "Fight me Zabuza."

Naruto saw the Sharingan for the first time ever at that moment. He had to admit, it was not what he expected to see underneath his teacher's forehead protector.

"I'm honored to see the Sharingan already." Zabuza said with a grin.

Getting tired of being out of the loop, Naruto said, "What in the hell is the Sharingan?"

"Sharingan is an eye based jutsu that allows a shinobi to understand and defeat all types of ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu." Sasuke said in a low tone. He did not add that only the Uchiha clan was supposed to possess it.

"That's not all. What's even scarier is that you can copy your opponent's techniques once you see them." Zabuza said as he looked at Kakashi. "When I was a member of the Hidden Mist's ANBU Black Ops, I kept a handbook. It included information about you. This is what it said: 'the man who has copied over a thousand jutsu, Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake.'"

'What's going on? First the Old Man and now sensei….' Naruto thought. "I didn't know they were that good…."

"Now, let's end the talking. I have to kill the old man." Zabuza said with a sadistic grin. "But it seems I have to go through you first, Kakashi." Kicking off of the tree, Zabuza pulled his sword free and landed on the ground, ready to attack.

Then, he faded from existence as a dense mist began to fill the area.

"Where'd he go?" Naruto asked, looking around.

"He'll come after me first. As a member of the Hidden Mist, he was known as an expert in silent killing." Kakashi said. "You don't even notice until you're already dead. Against him, I won't be able to use my Sharingan perfectly. I need you guys to be careful."

"The mist is getting thicker." Naruto said nervously.

"Eight points…." Zabuza said, though the direction of his voice was impossible to ascertain. "Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle artery, jugular vein, kidneys, heart, and brain… which should I choose?"

'What an incredibly dangerous killer intent… it feels like I'll be killed if I make a single move. That's how heavy the air is.' Sasuke thought. 'The intensity of jonin facing each other… it feel like my life is being squeezed. I can't take it… I'd almost rather die now and get it over with….'

"Don't worry guys." Kakashi said as he looked back at them. "I'll protect you even if it kills me. I don't let my comrades die." He did his famous eye smile at the last part.

"We'll see about that." Zabuza said as he appeared in the middle of the genin. "It's over." As he said the last part, he swung his huge sword at Tazuna, intending on killing the bridge builder right then and there.

Tazuna was sent flying back as Kakashi appeared between him and Zabuza and stabbed the swordsmen in the abdomen with a kunai. Much to the Copy Ninja's annoyance, the rogue ninja turned into water though.

'A water clone….' Kakashi thought as he glanced over his shoulder.

"Kakashi-sensei, look out!" Naruto yelled.

The warning seemed to be too late as Zabuza cleaved through Kakashi with his sword, but then the Copy Ninja turned into water, surprising Zabuza and Naruto.

The real Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza at that point and put a kunai to the man's throat. "It's over."

"It's over?" Zabuza asked with a haughty tone. "You don't get it. There is no way that you can beat me with your monkey like imitations… but that was impressive to say the least. You had already made the clone when you reassured your little genin that they'd be safe. You definitely caught me off guard by making your clone say those words. But, I'm not that easy to beat."

As those words sounded, the real Zabuza gripped his sword firmly behind Kakashi and the Copy Ninja destroyed the water clone that has been speaking.

'That one was a fake too?' Naruto thought in amazement.

Mentally cursing the rogue ninja's quick thinking, Kakashi threw himself to the ground, narrowly avoiding the powerful arc of Zabuza's blade. He felt the air slice above him and knew that it carried death with it.

Thinking he was safe when the attack missed, Kakashi tried to stand up, but Zabuza delivered a powerful kick to the Copy Ninja, sending him through the air and into the nearby water.

'Why is this water so heavy…?' Kakashi thought as he emerged from the water.

"You fool… Water Prison Jutsu" Zabuza said as he appeared behind Kakashi on the surface of the water. In an instant, the Copy Ninja was trapped in a large sphere of water.

'Damn….' Kakashi thought.

"Now I have you in an inescapable prison." Zabuza said confidently. "Now, we can finish our fight once I take care of the old man and the pesky runts. Water Clone Jutsu"

As he said that, a water clone rose before him and looked at the genin.

"Hehe… wearing those headbands and acting like you are ninja… a real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death." Zabuza's clone said. "Only when you're good enough to be listed in my Bingo Book can you start calling yourself ninja. You're not ninja." He then disappeared and reappeared in front of Naruto, though the blond did not see him until he had been kicked quite hard.

Naruto felt his forehead protector fall off before he realized that he was flying through the air with blood in his mouth.

"Take Tazuna and run! As long as he has me trapped, he can't move, and his water clone can't move too far away from him. Just run away!" Kakashi yelled at his students.

Naruto found that he was incredibly terrified, and he suspected that he would not have been able to think clearly if he had not heard Kakashi's words.

'Naruto Uzumaki… does not run away!' Naruto thought fiercely as he rose to his feet and ran towards Zabuza's clone as quickly as he could.

"Naruto, what are you thinking?" Sakura yelled as she saw her teammate begin to run at Zabuza.

'Tch… idiot….' Zabuza thought.

As Naruto got near Zabuza's clone, he was kicked back, landing farther away than he started. But much to everyone's surprise, Naruto managed a grin. Turning his right hand over, he revealed his forehead protector.

Tying the headband back on, he said, "Put this in your Bingo Book… Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves." Rising to his feet, he leveled a glare at the water clone popped his neck.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, confused.

"Water clones possess one-tenth of the strength of the original." Naruto muttered under his breath, catching Sasuke's attention.

'He knows the Water Clone Jutsu….' Sasuke thought as he remembered the Bell Test.

"Are you behind me?" Naruto asked, glancing at Sasuke with a grin on his face.

"Yeah, I'm with you." Sasuke said with a nod as he stepped forward.

"What about me?" Sakura asked.

"Stay with Tazuna." Naruto and Sasuke said together.

'Why aren't they running?' Kakashi thought confused. He expected Sakura or Sasuke to at least follow his orders, even if Naruto went against them.

"Let's go wild." Naruto said as he began to walk towards Zabuza.

"Don't tell me you're still trying to play ninja." Zabuza's clone said with a big laugh. "You guys just won't grow up. When I was your age, my hands were dyed red with blood.

"The Demon of the Mist…." Kakashi said as he looked at Zabuza.

"Ah, so you've heard about that?" Zabuza asked with a grin.

"The Hidden Mist Village was once known as the Blood Mist Village, and there was a final obstacle in becoming a ninja." Kakashi said.

"So, you really do know about the graduation exam already." Zabuza said.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, thoroughly confused.

"Friends who had trained, eaten at the same table for years, and shared dreams were pitted against each other in a fight to the death." Zabuza said with a proud grin. He was even more proud of the horrified looks on the faces of the genin.

"They were forced to change that exam when a demon appeared. Without pause or hesitation, a young boy that was not even a student killed over a hundred of the students." Kakashi said.

"That sure was fun." Zabuza said, shocking the three genin even more.

In a split second, the water clone appeared in front of Sasuke and slammed him to the ground with a single hit.

Seeing his comrade down, Naruto took off running towards Zabuza's water clone and formed a modified tiger hand sign. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu"

In an instant, there were fifty hyperactive knuckle-heads running towards the water clone of the Demon of the Mist.

"Fifty times zero is still zero." Zabuza's clone said as he swung his massive sword, destroying half of the clones in a single fell swoop.

In the time that he was distracted by the Shadow Clones, he did not notice that Sasuke was no longer where he had been lying though.

A Naruto was suddenly thrown into the air above Zabuza while the rogue ninja finished off some more of the shadow clones. His hands flashed through hand signs, ending in tiger. All of the sudden, he exhaled a large fireball at Zabuza.

'That can't be… Sasuke….' Kakashi thought as he looked at the Naruto look-alike in the air. He was not surprised when a wall of water blocked the fireball, but he was when he saw the Naruto in the air transform into Sasuke and throw something at the real Zabuza.

"You're throwing shuriken at me?" Zabuza said when he saw the two fuma shuriken flying towards him. "And your aim needs work." The last part was only said when he noticed that the two shuriken went to his left and right.

The shuriken exploded in a cloud of smoke a second after he spoke, revealing what appeared to be the real Naruto and a clone. Each one had a kunai in each hand with a paper bomb attached to its hilt.

"It's been a blast!" the two Naruto's said as they threw the kunai at Zabuza, making him go wide-eyed. The attack seemed too crazy to him, especially for a little Leaf genin. After all, he would be in the blast range.

The kunai transformed into shadow clones of Naruto moments before they hit. The one to his left was destroyed with a swing of his sword, but the one to his right went right over the water prison and head butted him in the side of the head, knocking him away from where he had been standing.

As Zabuza fell away from the water prison, Kakashi was released. Looking for the clones of Naruto, he saw that there was only one around, and he was standing over by Sasuke, facing the water clone of Zabuza.

'So, he used clones to free me. He's smarter than I thought.' Kakashi thought. He had half expected Naruto to try it himself, which would have been a bad idea.

"Great plan, Naruto." Kakashi said as he looked Zabuza in the eyes, drenched hair falling over his headband. "You guys have really grown up."

"Enough talk. Let's finish this." Zabuza said as he jumped.

Kakashi jumped back at the same time as Zabuza and instantly knew what jutsu he was about to use, so he quickly made the same hand signs.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu" both shinobi called out at the same time as two dragons made of water rose and attacked each other.

The three genin were dumbstruck watching the two jonin fight. Fortunately, they had defeated the water clone, so there was no one to attack them while they were distracted.

As the water from their jutsu rained down on them, Kakashi and Zabuza ran in circles and began to form hand signs. Much to Zabuza's surprise, Kakashi was mimicking him perfectly.

'My movements… he's completely….' Zabuza thought.

"…reading them." Kakashi finished.

'What? Did he read my mind? Damn! That….' Zabuza thought.

"Freak eye is pissing me off! Is that right?" Kakashi asked.

"All you're doing is copying me." Zabuza said.

"You can beat me, you monkey bastard!" Kakashi finished.

"Damn you! I'll make it so you can never open that mouth again!" Zabuza declared. Then, he saw something that disturbed him greatly. He could have sworn he was seeing himself right next to Kakashi, fighting alongside the Copy Ninja. 'That's not possible… is it a genjutsu?'

"Water Style: Great Whirlpool Jutsu" Kakashi said, finishing his jutsu, sending a spiraling pillar of water at Zabuza, hitting him square in the chest. It slammed the rogue ninja into a tree, where Kakashi appeared on a branch.

"How…? Can you see the future?" Zabuza asked.

"Yeah… you're going to die." Kakashi answered. Before he could do anything further, two senbon needles slammed into Zabuza's neck, dropping him to the ground.

On a tree branch not far away, Kakashi saw a black haired boy in the garb of a Tracker Ninja, or Hunter-nin as they were occasionally called.

"You're right. He's dead." the tracker ninja said.

Jumping down to Zabuza, Kakashi checked his pulse. "He really is dead."

"Thank you very much. I have been searching for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a while now." the tracker ninja said.

"You're one of the Mist's elite tracker ninja, are you not?" Kakashi asked to confirm his theory.

"Impressive… you are correct."

"Tracker ninja?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, my duty is to hunt down rogue ninja. I'm a member of the Tracker Ninja division of the Mist's ANBU Black Ops." the tracker ninja answered.

Naruto could not help but wish he could say something about a boy that looked close to his age being able to kill Zabuza so easily, but he could not bring himself to do so. He planned on asking Kakashi about it later though. It just felt wrong to him.

"Your battle is over now, and I must dispose of this body." The tracker ninja said as he reappeared over Zabuza's body. Grabbing the body, he formed a hand sign and disappeared in a swirl of mist.

"He's gone!" Naruto said in surprise.

Kakashi nodded as he lowered his forehead protector to cover his Sharingan eye and said, "Now, we have to get Tazuna back home. Let's go."

"Thanks, you guys are awesome. You can relax at my house for a while." Tazuna said with a big grin.

Kakashi suddenly collapsed to the ground before they could make any progress though.

"Kakashi-sensei, what happened?" Sakura asked as she rushed over to him.

"I'll be fine. It's just chakra exhaustion." Kakashi said as he lay on the ground.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Where's Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as he entered Tsunami's kitchen rubbing his eyes.

"Oh, he took Sasuke and Sakura to the bridge already. He said you wore yourself out last night and need your rest." Tsunami said with a smile. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"No can do. I can't believe they left without me." Naruto said as he quickly put his sandals on and zipped his jacket. "I'll see you guys later."

"Hmm… he must be in a hurry." Tsunami said as she watched Naruto run off.

As Naruto got into the woods outside of Tazuna's house, he formed a handsign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu" Four shadow clones instantly appeared.

"I need you guys to stay here and make sure Tsunami and Inari are safe." Naruto said, receiving nods from the clones. He had a feeling that it would be a good idea

Quickly speeding ahead, Naruto jumped from tree branch to tree branch, heading towards the bridge as fast as he could. It did not take long for him to reach it, fortunately.

When Naruto arrived at the bridge, he saw Sakura standing in front of Tazuna and Kakashi standing face to face with Zabuza. He also saw a collection of mirrors around an area of the bridge. Through the gap between two of the mirrors, he was able to see Sasuke lying on the ground beat up.

'Of course… they had to leave me behind today.' Naruto thought as he began to think of the best strategy to use in a situation like that. He knew that charging head-on would either get him or Sasuke hurt.

"_Remember. Chakra is made of physical and spiritual energy. You can't use spiritual energy efficiently when you're too excited, so calm down. You'll be able to use your chakra more easily if you do." Sakura said._

Naruto blinked and smiled at the memory. Sakura's advice had done him wonders in mastering the tree climbing exercise, so he felt that it might help in other things too.

'Okay… Sasuke's trapped in there, fighting that guy. If he can't beat him in there, then I probably couldn't either.' Naruto thought. 'Maybe that'll change if I can break those mirrors.'

"Shadow Clone Jutsu" Naruto whispered as he formed the hand sign. As the shadow clone came into existence, he formed another hand sign and said, "Transformation Jutsu"

Seeing the real Naruto turn into a kunai, the shadow clone picked the tool up and jumped out from hiding, landing in the middle of the bridge.

"Naruto Uzumaki is here to save the day!" the clone declared loudly as he dashed towards the collection of mirrors.

"What in the hell is he doing?" Tazuna asked, causing Sakura to sigh and shake her head, while Kakashi smiled under his mask. He was beginning to understand that Naruto rarely did incredibly stupid things anymore.

Quickly throwing the kunai at one of the side mirrors, the shadow clone prepared to make its escape. Though the kunai bouncing off of the mirror was an unexpected occurrence, the shadow clone simply threw down a smoke bomb and dispelled, making it disappear without a trace.

"Where did that brat go?" Zabuza asked as he looked around. He had been about to throw some shuriken at the blond haired brat.

About ten feet away from the mirror, the kunai suddenly exploded in smoke, revealing twenty clones of Naruto, along with the real one. Quickly circling the collection of mirrors before Zabuza or the ice user could stop his plan, kunai with paper bombs attached were stabbed into each mirror and held there by the clones.

The only one that did not hold a kunai in one of the mirrors was the real Naruto, who was at the top of dome of mirrors. Once his kunai was firmly embedded in the mirror, he did a front flip through the space in the mirrors and landed next to Sasuke.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked, as he helped the Uchiha stand up.

"Yeah, but you probably should have waited out there until you were sure the mirrors exploded." Sasuke said, not quite sure that his teammates plan would work.

"I'll keep this guy busy. I need you to quickly use one of your fire jutsu to weaken the mirrors from this side as well." Naruto said, earning a nod from Sasuke.

As Sasuke rushed through the hand signs, Naruto jumped in front of him, taking several senbon to the torso that were meant for Sasuke.

Quickly ducking, Naruto saw small fireballs fly through the air, striking each mirror repeatedly. He could remember Sasuke calling that technique the Phoenix Flower Jutsu.

As the fireballs began to strike the mirrors, the paper bombs began to detonate on the other sides of them. It was quite a shock to most of the people present when all that remained of the ice user's jutsu was shards of ice.

It likely would have surprised the ice user as well, but he had been inside one of the mirrors when the paper bombs detonated. He had been thrown to the ground and knocked unconscious.

"How in the hell did he manage that?" Zabuza asked angrily. He could not believe that the same kid that forced him to release Kakashi from the water prison in his last fight also defeated Haku's most powerful jutsu.

Turning back to face Kakashi, Zabuza was struck by the Copy Ninja's fist.

"It's time for our rematch." Kakashi said.

"We should go help." Naruto said.

Sasuke nodded in agreement, but he fell to his knees before he could take a single step towards Kakashi.

"I… am not beaten… that easily." Haku said as he stood with his right arm extended. It was easy to tell that he had just thrown a senbon needle at Sasuke.

"Maybe you should be." Naruto said as he took off running at Haku and punched him in the face as hard as he could. The punch shattered the mask that he wore.

"Why… why are you helping him?" Naruto asked as he recognized the boy.

What followed was a conversation and events that he would always remember, beginning with Haku's desire to be useful to Zabuza and ending with the arrival and death of Gato and his thugs as they attempted to betray Zabuza.

~Scene Break~

Two weeks later, Squad Seven stood at the graves of Zabuza Momochi and Haku Yuki.

"Kakashi-sensei, were they correct about ninja?" Sakura asked.

"A ninja isn't supposed to pursue individual goals. Becoming the village's tool is an important thing. It's the same for the Leaf Village." Kakashi said, a bit warily.

"Is that really what it means to become a ninja?" Naruto asked. "You know what? I don't like it!"

"Do you belive that too?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, each and every ninja has to live while dealing with that issue… just like Zabuza and Haku." Kakashi said.

"I've just decided! I'm going to be a ninja in my own way. I'll find my own ninja way to follow and live by that instead. Believe it!" Naruto declared.

Kakashi could not help but smile at Naruto's determination. He reminded him of Kushina a great deal.

~Scene Break~

"Thanks to you, we have completed the bridge." Tazuna said later that day at the bridge. "You four will be missed."

"Thank you for everything." Kakashi said with a smile.

"Don't worry! We'll come back to visit!" Naruto said with a grin.

"I'll hold you to that." Tsunami said as she placed a hand on Inari's head. "Have a safe journey."

"Don't worry. We will." Kakashi said as he turned around and began to walk back towards the Land of Fire with his students. As a result of the mission, each one had changed in more ways than they could have imagined before. Perhaps the one that changed the most was Naruto, who had learned a lesson fundamental to his being from Haku.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"I need to turn in our mission report. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Kakashi said as saw a bird in the sky. He recognized it as a message to the jonin of the village from the Hokage.

"Okay. See ya later sensei." Naruto said. "I'm just going to go train."

"Yeah, same here." Sasuke said as he began walking towards his home.

"Sasuke, do you want to-" Sakura began.

"No, I'm training by myself." Sasuke said without missing a beat.

"Okay… I'll just go train over there then. If you change your mind…." Sakura trailed off as she walked over to the other side of the training ground.

Kakashi inwardly sighed as he watched the exchange. His squad still had exceptional teamwork, but there did not seem to be much friendship among them at all. He did not even know how to describe Naruto and Sasuke's relationship. It seemed to be more of a rivalry than an actual friendship.

'It all started when we got back after the mission to the Land of Waves.' Kakashi thought as he walked towards the Administration Building. Though it had only been about two months since that mission, it seemed a great deal longer than that to him.

In the past two months, his team had improved by leaps and bounds in terms of skill at least.

Sasuke seemed to have improved the most, though Kakashi knew that it was only because he had unlocked his Sharingan about a week after returning to the village. It had actually been the Copy Ninja's plan to unlock it. After all, it would have come in handy in the mission if he had been able to use it.

Most of Sasuke's training in the past two months had focused on taijutsu and the use of his Sharingan, which was currently in its two tomoe state.

But if Kakashi was honest with himself, he would say that Naruto actually improved the most. He seemed to derive a new reason to get stronger from the mission, causing him to train even harder. His taijutsu, chakra control, and overall ninja skills had become quite impressive. And to make things even better, he had gotten rid of the orange jumpsuit. He had taken to wearing the simple dark blue ninja attire that most chunin and jonin of the Hidden Leaf Village wore with a red spiral on each shoulder. He also seemed to imitate Kakashi by wearing blue fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back of them.

The only one of his students that he was not completely happy with, in terms of progress, was Sakura. She did not put forth as much effort as his other two students, and it showed. While she was better with taijutsu and ninjutsu than she had been when she graduated, she had still not shown any interest in learning genjutsu, despite Kakashi's constant comments about her being a genjutsu type kunoichi.

'You can only lead a horse to water. You can't make it drink.' Kakashi thought. It seemed appropriate in regards to her.

Kakashi picked up the pace and rushed towards the Administration Building. He knew what the meeting would be about. A single event happened every year on the first of January and the first of July. It was close enough to the first of July that it could only have been one thing.

Arriving at the meeting room within the building, Kakashi saw almost every jonin the village had, along with several special jonin. The only ones not present were the ones on missions out of the village.

"It seems that everyone is here." Hiruzen Sarutobi said as he entered the room and looked at the jonin before him. He watched as Kakashi took his place next to Kurenai, who stood at Asuma's right. "The bi-annual Chunin Exams will be held here in the Hidden Leaf Village, starting on the first day of July."

"It has been announced in the other villages already, I take it?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes… the other competitors will be arriving within the next few days. The exams begin in five days after all." Sarutobi answered.

"Now, it is time to hear nominations on who will take part in these exams. As you know, any genin with at least eight completed missions is eligible to take part in the Chunin Exams with a nomination from their sensei. It is advised that they have more experience than that, but it is the sensei's decision." Sarutobi said. "I'd like the three jonin in charge of the rookies to step forward." At that, Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma stepped forward. "Would any of you like to nominate your students?"

Everyone except for the jonin that stepped forward and Sarutobi were surprised when Kakashi said, "I, Kakashi Hatake of Squad Seven, nominate Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki for the Chunin Exams."

Next, Kurenai said, "I, Kurenai Yuhi of Squad Eight, nominate Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame for the Chunin Exams."

Then, Asuma said, "I, Asuma Sarutobi of Squad Ten, nominate Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi for the Chunin Exams."

'All nine rookies… that's rare… but expected.' Sarutobi thought.

"You can't be serious!" Iruka Umino said, making Kakashi wonder where he came from. He did not think Chunin were invited to the meeting after all.

"Excuse me Iruka, but would you like to explain your outburst?" Sarutobi asked.

"Yes sir… I taught all nine of those rookies in the Academy. I understand that they may have improved a great deal, but they have only been genin for three months. There's no way that they're already ready for the Chunin Exams." Iruka said.

"I agree." Guy said. "Perhaps you're pushing them a bit hard. Do what I did. Let them develop their skills for a year or so before putting them through the exams. You know haws traumatic they can be."

"I doubt it will be as traumatic as meeting and fighting the Demon of the Mist." Kakashi retorted. "I know my students better than anyone here. I know that they're ready for this. I wouldn't nominate them if I didn't."

"I agree." Sarutobi said, nodding his head. "The nominations for the nine rookies will stand. I have faith that my jonin would not nominate anyone that was not ready."

"Yes sir." Iruka said with a sigh. He still did not agree with the decision, but he saw that there was nothing he could do to change the Third Hokage's mind.

As the meeting continued, Guy's team, along with twenty other teams, was nominated for the Chunin Exams.

It was certainly a high number of contestants to have to beat, Kakashi thought. He had faith that his team would at least make it fairly far though the exams though.

~Scene Break~

Back on the training field, Naruto and Sakura were still doing their individual training.

Naruto quickly sprung into action as his five water clones attacked him from different directions with taijutsu. Without actually going on the offense, he fought the five clones at the same time before eventually grabbing one by the arm and throwing him into the others, destroying them.

He had begun using water clones to spar with ever since he returned from the Land of Waves. Since they only possessed one-tenth of the strength of the original, they were quite useful. Fighting against shadow clones worked as well, but shadow clones equaled the original in terms of ability. As a result, he was physically unable to win those spars using only taijutsu.

Quickly doing a back flip, Naruto quickly removed a shuriken from his holster and threw it as he spun mid-air. It slammed into the bull's eye of a target that had been behind him with a solid thunk.

'It's always more difficult to do that when I'm full of adrenaline.' Naruto thought as he took a deep breath. As Kakashi had told him time and time again… it was easy to hit an unmoving target. A moving one, on the other hand, was the hard part.

"I'm going to go home. I'll see you later." Naruto said as he waved to Sakura.

He did not notice the sad look on her face. Ever since dedicating his entire being to his training, Naruto had not been paying much attention to her. Of course, he would never have made the progress that he had and learned three new jutsu in such a short time span if he had paid as much attention to her as he used to.

Naruto was about a mile away from the training ground when he heard a voice that he recognized as Konohamaru's.

~Scene Break~

"Put me down!" Konohamaru yelled as he was held in the air by his shirt by a Sand genin with purple face paint on.

"You know… I really hate brats like you who run into your betters and don't even apologize." he said as he pulled his right fist back to punch the kid. He would have done so right then and there, but the sound of something cutting through the air stopped him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a fuma shuriken coming straight towards him from his left.

"Watch out Kankuro!" the blonde next to him said as she removed the fan from her back.

Before either of the Sand shinobi could do anything, the shuriken exploded in a cloud of smoke and Kankuro was sent flying to his right.

Konohamaru fell as the Sand ninja was sent flying to the ground, but he never actually landed on anything solid. He found that he had been caught by the last person he had expected.

"Boss… what are you doing here?" Konohamaru asked as he recognized Naruto.

"Apparently, I'm saving your ass." Naruto said as he withdrew a kunai and spun it in his free hand. Setting Konohamaru down, he added, "Get out of here now. I'll handle this painted freak."

"What did you just call me, pipsqueak?" the Sand ninja asked as he stood up.

"I called you a very ugly girl with clown-like make-up dressed in a cat suit. Is that your date strapped to your back?" Naruto asked, looking at the object in bandages on Kankuro's back at the last part.

The girl next to Kankuro busted up laughing at that. She had never heard anyone mouth off to Kankuro quite like that before. She only stopped laughing when she saw him set the bandaged object on the ground in front of him.

"No Kankuro! What are you thinking? You can't use the Crow in a situation like this." she said, looking at him like he was insane.

"I'm going to teach this kid a lesson." Kankuro said.

"I'd like to see you try." Naruto said as he prepared for the fight that appeared to be inevitable.

"Kankuro, why are you attacking Leaf ninja?" an older Sand shinobi asked as he walked up. Half of his face was covered by a piece of cloth. Based on his flak jacket, Naruto guessed that he was a jonin.

"He attacked me first!" Kankuro said.

"You did threaten that little kid though." the blonde girl commented.

Turning to face Naruto, the jonin said, "I'm sorry for the trouble that he's caused you. I'll reprimand him for it. Rest assured it won't happen again. I'm Baki by the way, and these are two of my students."

"Why are you in the village?" Naruto asked, curious about the sudden appearance of Sand shinobi.

"They're taking the Chunin Exams that are being hosted here. We're early, so it might not have been announced yet." Baki said, seeing that the blond had no idea what he was talking about.

"I knew they had them twice a year. I just didn't know we were hosting them this time." Naruto said as he looked at Kankuro. "So where's your third student?"

"Gaara's around here somewhere." Baki said with a shrug. "It was nice meeting you, but we need to get to our hotel."

"Sure thing. Have a nice day." Naruto said as he glanced at Konohamaru. Placing his hand on the boy's shoulder, he walked away with him.

"Baki-sensei, why did you stop me?" Kankuro asked as soon as Naruto was far enough away to be unable to hear.

"I saw the entire thing, Kankuro." Baki said with a warning in his voice. "He used a jonin level technique just to get near you, and then he easily slipped through your guard. To make matters worse, he was able to take you down with a single kick and catch that boy in a matter of seconds. Don't underestimate him. He is stronger than he looks."

~Scene Break~

The next day, Naruto and Sasuke were having one of their seemingly daily spars while waiting for Kakashi to arrive. Sakura was watching them fight with nothing but taijutsu.

Even though she was nowhere near their level when it came to taijutsu, she could clearly see that they were an even match. Of course, Sasuke did not have his Sharingan activated, so he would have been able to do even better in he was using his every advantage.

"They're getting better, aren't they?" Kakashi asked as he appeared next to Sakura.

"Oh… Kakashi-sensei. Yeah, they're getting better." Sakura said with a small smile.

Clearing his throat, Kakashi said, "Sorry 'bout the wait. I got lost on the road of life."

Sasuke and Naruto instantly stopped fighting and looked at Kakashi when they heard those words. Seeing that it was time to meet, they walked over to their sensei and teammate.

"So what are we doing today, sensei?" Naruto asked, excited.

"I've nominated you three for the Chunin Exams." Kakashi said abruptly, surprising all three of the genin. Naruto was the only one of them that actually knew the Chunin Exams were about to take place. "If you wish to participate sign these forms and take them to the Academy at six in the morning on the first day of July. You'll need to go to room number three-oh-one." As he said that, he handed the forms to the three genin.

"Until further notice, we won't be meeting up for missions or training. Have fun." Kakashi said before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto could not help but smile as he looked at the form. It represented everything that he wanted. He would finally get to prove himself and advance in rank. He would also get to show everyone that he graduated with that he was no longer the stupid little kid that he had been.

'I will succeed.' he thought.


End file.
